Picked on all night, Forbes got the stop that counted

1of 2San Antonio Spurs Bryn Forbes reacts after a play during the second half against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the AT&T Center, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. The Spurs won the season opener, 112-108.Photo: JERRY LARA / San Antonio Express-News

As he walked onto the court at the AT&T Center for the second half of Wednesday’s season-opening victory over Minnesota, he felt a little like the captain of the chess club stumbling into the football locker room with a pocket protector on his front and a “kick me” sign on his back.

He knew he was about to get picked on.

In that moment, Forbes went back to a vow he made to himself over the summer, as he lifted weights and ran in the sands of his home state of Michigan to add nine pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-3 frame.

“People aren’t pushing me around as much,” Forbes said.

Minnesota’s Jeff Teague got his licks in, running at Forbes on three straight pick-and-roll possessions to score seven straight points and tag a pair of fouls on his Spurs counterpart in 46 seconds.

As he slips into the not-quite-comfortable shoes as the Spurs’ starting point guard du jour, Forbes can look forward to more moments like this, facing point guards even more prolific than Teague.

Of this Spurs coach Gregg Popovich feels confident: Forbes will get his licks in as well.

“Bryn gives everything he’s got, 100 percent,” Popovich said. “It started last year, where he’s busting his butt on defense trying to show us that he deserves minutes.”

Two weeks ago, nobody — least of all Forbes — expected him to be anywhere near the Spurs’ starting point guard position. Wednesday, he became the third undrafted player in Spurs history to draw an opening-night start at that spot, joining Avery Johnson and Anthony Carter.

An outbreak of injuries among the Spurs’ guard corps — most notably a season-ending knee injury to starting point guard Dejounte Murray — foisted the role on Forbes, who naturally projects as a shooting guard.

“We were really disappointed when Dejounte got hurt, because he was kind of setting the tone (in preseason),” Popovich said. “He was making steals, getting up into ball handlers. We were kind of dejected when he went down.”

Make no mistake. No matter how much grit and hustle he applies, Forbes will never be able to disrupt All-Star playmakers the way Murray could.

Forbes does not possess the outstanding size or length that makes Murray special for his position. He is simply a regular-sized point guard, fighting his fanny off.

Forbes’ ability to hold up even a little bit on the defensive end will help determine how well the Spurs can hold the fort until they begin to get healthy bodies back.

“It’s a total different position that what he’s playing,” said Patty Mills, Forbes’ backup and mentor. “He’s out of his comfort zone. He’s built to play physical defense. It’s just reps in the system.”

Forbes agrees. Defending quicker, sleeker point guards like Teague in the pick-and-roll is different than defending bulkier guards from the off-guard spot.

“Their tendencies are a lot different,” Forbes said. “It’s a different guard. I wouldn’t say easier or harder, just different.”

Teague torched the Spurs’ guards — not just Forbes — for 27 points on 12 field goal attempts Wednesday, and went to the foul line nine times.

Though the Spurs were glad to escape at 1-0 for the 20th time in 22 seasons, they would prefer not every game follow the script of the 2018-19 opener.

Through sheer force of firepower, the Spurs built an 11-point advantage in the first half. By the time Teague was finished with his minirun in the third quarter, the Spurs had surrendered that lead.

They held on for a 112-108 victory that could have flipped the other way had a couple more shots rimmed out.

The goal, Forbes said, is to not have to win every game in a shootout.

“We’ve got enough talent, we can beat a lot of teams by doing that,” Forbes said. “The good teams, the teams at the top, you’re not going to beat them that way. The blueprint is defense.”

When Wednesday’s game came down to the wire, the Spurs got the final stop they needed.

As Minnesota emerged from a timeout with 32.4 seconds to go, behind 110-108, the Spurs deployed a lineup of Forbes, Mills, DeRozan, Davis Bertans and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Though Aldridge has been a defensive workhorse throughout his three-plus seasons in San Antonio, none of the others has gotten within a half-court heave of the NBA’s All-Defensive team.

This is life down the stretch of a close game for a team without a defensive stopper.

“It’s about schemes, and we know we have a system and principles that anyone can follow,” Aldridge said. “When you put that group out there, we all know what we need to do. It’s not ‘Oh, let’s put one guy (out there) and he’s going to stop one guy.’”

As time ticked down, however, the game came down to one guy against one guy.

For the Spurs that was Forbes, defending Minnesota’s Derrick Rose, a 30-year-old former NBA MVP.

The ball swung to Rose in the right corner. Forbes, again, knew he was about to be picked on.

“I wanted to make sure he stayed on that right side so he had to make a tough finish outside the paint,” Forbes said. “He’s quick and strong and talented, but he went exactly where I wanted him to go.”

With Forbes contesting, Rose missed a difficult runner, Bertans rebounded and DeRozan swished a pair of foul shots to seal opening night for the Spurs.

There will be more such tests to come for Forbes.

Saturday night, the Spurs will be in Portland, where Forbes will be asked to defend one pick-your-poison scorer or the other in Damian Lillard or C.J. McCollum.

Once again, Forbes will stand in somebody’s crosshairs, somewhere between a pocket protector and a “kick me” sign, and be forced to stand up for himself.